Quote of the day

Burning Books, a Precursor to Burning Human Beings

Burning Books is the Precursor to Burning Human Beings, and Apathy is the Assurance to Guaranteeing its Perpetuance.

Rev. Father Maximiadis

Martin Luther (1483-1546), one of the influential figures in the Protestant Reformation Schism as well as an anti-Semite, suggested, “setting alight Jewish Prayer Books and Synagogues”. (‘Von den Jüden und iren Lügen,’ published in 1543). Luther’s suggestions were adopted 400-years later by the Nazi Party, which begun the state-sanctioned discrimination of the Jewish people (Nazi convention, Nürnberg, 15 September 1935). Germany outlawed the Nazi Party subsequent to the closure of World War II.

The Nazis began the Reichspogromnacht [‘Night of Broken Glass’] on 9-10 November 1938 throughout Germany and Austria. A night of violence against the Jews, their Synagogues and burning of their Prayer Books. Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), German poet, essayist and literary critic, wrote, “Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings”. (‘Almansor: A Tragedy’, published in 1823). Between 1941-1945, The German Nazi regime conducted the systematic slaughter of 6-million Jews which became known as the ‘Holocaust’ ὁλόκαυστος holókaustos (or השואה, HaShoah).

Books that are read are more often not understood. Teachers, similar to books, are heard, but more often inattentively. Until generations learn the mistakes of past generations, the past mistakes will be the assurance to guaranteeing its perpetuance.

George Santayana (1863-1952), essayist, philosopher and poet wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. (‘The Life of Reason’ (1905)).